It was a warm September day with the sun high in the sky when we arrived at Paradise, elevation 5,400 feet. After a break at the visitors’ center, one third of the way to Mount Rainier’s peak, two friends and I saddled up our packs laden with skis and boots, preparing for the inevitable question from some tourist from Texas: “Where are you going skiing around here?!”
The correct answer is to smile and point with a ski pole at the giant snow-covered mountain over yonder.
Paradise gets 643 inches of snow per year, and it’s where many people go snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, and tubing during the winter months. For downhill skiers, June and even July also offer easy runs from the Paradise visitors’ center back to the trailhead. But by August, all of that’s melted away, and you’re looking at strapping your skis to your backpack and hiking on dirt through wildflowers until you reach the snow line.